Brighton Beach Memoirs (2014)

Join Eugene Morris Jerome and his extended family as he comes of age in Brooklyn in 1937, dreams of becoming a writer, and sees, at last, the golden palace of the Himalayas.

Blake Stage Company’s spring show, based on an semi-autobiographical snapshot from Neil Simon’s childhood, featured a limited but lovable cast of characters and an elaborate masterpiece of a set that this writer challenges you to nest in any high school anywhere.

The wallpaper behind the characters isn’t wallpaper at all, but a stick-built, hand-painted, two-story set courtesy of an amazing crew of builders led by Matt Parsons and painters led by Sami Wright and Rebecca Hill, under the direction of Mr. John Ovington. John prefers behind the lights to in front of them so don’t tell him I mentioned him here…